Two multi-colored, 3D printed halves of a neonatal sternum are seen, including spinal bones and internal organs.

Advanced Medical Technologies Program

The Advanced Medical Technologies Program provides medical additive manufacturing (3D printing) and virtual surgical planning services to clinicians, educators and researchers within Penn State Health and College of Medicine for:

In collaboration with the departments of Radiology, Surgery and Pediatrics (with support from Children’s Miracle Network), the Center for Medical Innovation has established a grant program to cover the cost of all prints and virtual surgical plans for clinical cases, research and medical education teaching purposes. The grant program will pay for approximately the first 300 qualifying requests. If your request does not qualify for the grant program, a reasonable quote will be established and shared with you for approval.

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Learn More About Advanced Medical Technologies

Advances in medical technologies have transformed the practice of medicine. As a leading research institution in engineering and materials science, Penn State has been at the forefront of that transformation with projects such as the artificial heart. Today, technology continues to revolutionize medicine and at an ever-faster rate.

The Advanced Medical Technologies Program is dedicated to the identification, development and integration of cutting-edge technologies into clinical practice, medical education and research. The program provides advanced tools directly to clinicians, educators and researchers within Penn State.

The overall goal of the Advanced Medical Technologies program is to promote collaborations between Penn State’s academic medical center and its engineering research institutions with the purpose of enhancing health. It accomplishes this by helping clinicians, engineers and educators drive breakthroughs in improving the standard of care, achieving better patient outcomes and enhancing Penn State’s ability to educate the next generation of clinicians and biomedical researchers.

The Advanced Medical Technologies program provides medical additive manufacturing services and will add other capabilities in the future. Services are offered in collaboration with the following resources and departments:

The Advanced Medical Technologies Program offers two different printing technologies, stereolithography and fused deposition modeling. Both have advantages and disadvantages, and the program helps investigators decide what is best for a particular use.

The program can also provide prints that employ other printing technologies to produce metal parts as well as models with multiple colors and material densities. Contact the program for details.

This is a gray stereolithography 3D-printed heart model from a Formlabs printer.

Stereolithography

Stereolithography is an additive manufacturing process that works by focusing an ultraviolet laser on to a vat of photopolymer resin. This triggers photopolymerization, a process by which light causes chains of molecules to link and forms polymers or materials made of long, repeating chains of molecules. Those polymers form the body of a 3D solid, such as an anatomical model or prototype.

Stereolithographic medical models can create accurate 3D models of various anatomical regions of a patient based on data from a computerized tomography (CT) scan or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This data consists of a series of cross-sectional images of the human anatomy created by Penn State Health’s 3D Imaging Lab. Stereolithographic models are used for patient or student education, preoperative planning and patient-specific surgical guides.

Fused Deposition Modeling

Fused deposition modeling is an additive manufacturing process that creates a 3D model by laying down material in layers.

This process can be fast and inexpensive when compared with stereolithographic 3D printing, building accurate 3D models of various anatomical regions of a patient based on data from a CT scan or MRI. Fused deposition modeling prints can be used for patient or student education and preoperative planning. The Advanced Medical Technologies Program offers both inexpensive, low-resolution and more expensive, high-resolution fused deposition modeling capabilities.

On the left is a lower-resolution, more inexpensive fused deposition modeling print from a Lulzbot printer, and on the right is a more expensive, higher-resolution fused deposition modeling print from a Fortus printer. The Advanced Medical Technologies Program offers both options.